Lawmakers to introduce bills to reform bail in Michigan

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers plans to introduce bills in Lansing on Wednesday to reform Michigan’s bail system, a change supporters say would save taxpayers money and free poor people awaiting trial.

The effort to eliminate cash bail for many offenses has gained traction in recent years among activists who want Michigan to follow the lead of other states and change the system they say unnecessarily jails poor people who are charged with crimes but can’t afford to post bond.

Rep. David LaGrand, D-Grand Rapids, said he expects to introduce the legislation on Oct. 17. It has support from some perhaps surprising quarters, including law enforcement officials.

“My package is trying to address the clogged arteries of the system leading to people being lodged in jail on very, very low bonds,” LaGrand said. “We don’t want a justice system that has one set of results for poor people and another set of results for people with cash in their pockets to pay bail. This is an issue of liberty and justice and morality.”

Defenders of bail have said the system ensures those charged with crimes attend court dates and don’t flee.

Judges could still set cash bond if defendants pose a danger to the community, are flight risks or have histories of missing court dates. In that process, the financial assessment would be conducted on the defendant and reported to the judge. The judge would be required to explain the rationale for setting the price of a cash bond.

LaGrand said the most significant hurdle to reforming the state’s cash bail system at this point is timing, he said. The Legislature meets only 15 days until it recesses on Dec. 20, and any bills that don’t pass by then will die.

“This is an issue whose time has come,” LaGrand said.

Republican supporters include co-sponsors such as Rep. Tommy Brann, R-Wyoming, who is vice chair of the Judiciary subcommittee and serves on and state police subcommittee; Scott VanSingel, R-Grant, a member of the House appropriations committee and Martin Howrylak, R-Troy, who is on the judiciary committee and law and justice committee.

“I don’t see it as being fast tracked. Would I like it to be? Absolutely,” Howrylak said. “I think the real likelihood is that we’re setting the groundwork for next term.”

Brann, who owns a small restaurant in Wyoming in west Michigan, is sponsoring a bill in the package that would allow people arrested for failure to pay child support to be released on reduced bond at a judge’s discretion.

He said he’s paid hundreds of dollars to bail out employees who could not pay bonds.

“I’ve seen it happen where police take an employee off job and they don’t have the money to make bond so they can go back to work so they can pay the child support,” he said. “They’re not doing any good in jail.”

A first term legislator, Brann said he is unsure if the bills will get a vote during the lame duck session.

‘Tragic’ human cost

Opponents of the current system say it unfairly punishes the poor and wastes money.

“Cash bail is an outdated system that unjustly disrupts the lives of thousands of vulnerable Michiganders before they are convicted of any crime and without regard for whether they pose a risk to public safety,” said Barbara Wieland, a spokeswoman for Safe & Just Michigan, a Lansing-based group that advocates for criminal justice reform.

“The mere inability to pay bail causes many people to languish in county jails for weeks or even months at the cost of their jobs, vehicles, housing, credit scores and minor children. The human cost of this unnecessary incarceration is tragic but avoidable, as the federal system and the number of states that do not use cash bail have made clear.”

In 2016, 65 percent of inmates in U.S. jails were defendants who had not yet been convicted of a crime. A majority, 52 percent, were people of color, according to U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In Michigan, about 41 percent of an estimated 16,350 jail inmates at the end of 2013 were awaiting trial or arraignment, adding more than $180 million a year in costs largely paid by local taxpayers, the federal data show.

In Wayne County, as many as 60 percent of the jail population is comprised of defendants who can’t make bail and are awaiting trial, according to the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association. One day of jail alone costs about $75 per day across the United States or more than $10 billion a year, 2017 Bridge analysis found.

In recent years, California, Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey and Georgia curtailed or eliminated cash bail. Washington, D.C. got rid of bail in 1992 for all defendants except those deemed most dangerous and 2015 data showed 90 percent returned to court and were not arrested while awaiting trial.

Police and prosecutors, including the Michigan Sheriff’s Association and Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, support what they call the responsible elimination of cash bail.

D.J Hilson, the Muskegon County prosecutor and president of the prosecutor group, said he met with LaGrand to discuss the proposed legislation and sees value in it.

Cash bail can be reformed in a way that protects public safety, victims’ rights and provides equal justice for people no matter whether they can afford bail, he said.

“Those issues, I think are properly addressed in the legislation,” he said.

The proposed legislation comes after a national group called the Bail Project this summer started paying bail for low-income defendants in Detroit to help poor people who have not been convicted get back to work and families.

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Comments

Rob l

Tue, 10/16/2018 - 12:06pm

Way to set the table for those who don’t follow the law. Irresponsible politicians trying to gain popularity with low come people with false promises. What’s next attacking attorneys for being a profitable profession? We help many families get loved ones home and also keep them accountable with the courts. Democrats have forever lost my vote in Michigan. This is a real shit show

Yes, let's continue to destroy the lives of poor arrested on minor charges without even convicting them, all while costing the tax payers an enormous amount of money. Jesus, you Conservatives are as heartless as you are short sighted.

The return of debtor's prisons became acceptable when people were being jailed for owing child support debt. Most child support debt is held by people with low or no income which led to parents being jailed for being poor. This act of jailing the poor in America was outlawed in 1833 and needs to be re-abolished. American citizens should never be jailed, for any reason, for being too poor to pay a government debt. We must start with the reformation of the child support system. Join the fight! TheChildSupportHustle.com

Michigan needs to stop jailing people on child support, contemp of court, no car insurance,and other financial crimes . I know I guy that works out of state alot, he got a ticket for a dog ( no license), didn't pay it on time. He came back home after a long trip. Cool we're at his house. Really

I have been looking at this "bail" problem for the past year. It seems to me that any bail that you must borrow money to pay or cannot fork over to the court because of low income is "excessive". Isn't that unconstitutional according to the Eighth Amendment?

Wow! 90 percent of those released without bail come back. That means that one out of every ten murderers, rapists, and child molesters do not come back to court. With bail bondsmen, it is more like 99 percent come back to court one way or the other, at no cost to taxpayers. Gee: do we want one out of ten child killers let free on his promise to return to court?

I find it interesting that the Party for the People, Dumocrats,are the ones pushing this yet look at all the people they are going to put out of work, including employees of the bond companies won't need as many deputies/officers in the jails, we wont need as many court employees either, not to mention do y'all really think criminals are going to voluntarily return to court when they don't have too.....

The legislators are calling the present framework a treachery, and they state the framework vigorously troubles individuals with lower salaries, just as minorities.The bills would ensure individuals anticipating preliminary in prison are just kept there at the point when they represent a threat to society and not at the point when they can't manage the cost of bail. Along with this discussion if anybody want amplifier for hunting, i have found the besthttps://cartbig.com/best-hearing-amplifier-for-hunting/